Police said they found 13 bodies, blindfolded and shot, on Friday in the Binok, Kazimiyah and Sadr City neighborhoods.

A Danish soldier died in southern Iraq after his patrol vehicle hit a bomb near the city of Basra, the Danish central army command said Friday. "I can confirm that one Danish soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq," a Danish army spokesman told Reuters, adding that one other soldier was injured in the incident.

Meanwhile, US troops joined Iraqi soldiers in a sweep of five villages outside the city of Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad. Forty "suspected insurgents" were picked up in Hawija, police said.